Acer Complains About Microsoft Surface, Threatens to Abandon Windows

Threats don’t get clearer than this: Acer CEO JT Wang told The Financial Times this week that he has asked Microsoft to reconsider competing head-to-head with Acer and its other PC maker partners by releasing the Surface family of Windows-based tablets. And if Microsoft declines, another Acer executive has suggested that the firm seek out alternatives to Windows.

“We have said [to Microsoft] think it over,” Wang said. “Think twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at, so please think twice.”

It’s not surprising that Microsoft’s PC-maker partners would have complained to the software giant about the Surface devices, the first version of which will arrive in late October alongside Windows 8. But it is unusual for this kind of tension to be aired publicly. Amazingly, Acer has already done so twice: In addition to Mr. Wang’s comments, Acer President Campbell Kan also has some strong words for Microsoft.

“If Microsoft … is going to do hardware business, what should we do?” he asked. “Should we still rely on Microsoft, or should we find other alternatives?”

Though it’s hard to imagine long-time partners such as Dell or HP complaining about Microsoft in public this explicitly, Acer and other Asian PC firms like ASUS, Lenovo, and Samsung are starting to take on a more prominent role. In the most recent quarter, Acer was the third largest PC maker in the world, behind HP and Lenovo but ahead of Dell and ASUS. The company sold about 9.2 million PCs in the quarter, good for about 11 percent market share.

Discuss this Article 43

Acer make lousy hardware anyway. Lets weed out the scum from the pond and raise the level of quality of the hardware. Nothing like a little competition to raise the bar.
Bottom line - If they make hardware that is better than the surface, it will sell better than the surface.

All of this is because Microsoft are in panic mode that Apple is eating its lunch, not just in the mobile consumer PC space, but also in the enterprise space where traditionally Microsoft has considered itself unassailable.
An object lesson in what happens when a company totally loses its way and is unable to bully its way into a market. Microsoft has never been an innovator and that isn't going to change now.
Windows will ultimately go the way of the typewriter.

Let's see, for a tablet they could go with a home rolled Linux solution or Google's. Google is in the hardware business as well so it really doesn't solve the problem and nobody want's Linux even if they could get the talent to create something. This is really problem Acer, HP, Dell, and ASUS created for themselves. The one obvious solution is to just make a better product than what MS offers but that would mean stepping out of the low end price war and taking a risk.

@chuckb84
Graphics chip vendors sell there own cards, intel make chipsets and also sell their own motherboards ... I don't really see how the surface is going to 'break' the model to the point where it no longer works. Microsoft's OEMs have a clear path to take - make good products. That's the challenge that Surface lays down, plain and simple.
And vaporware? The word doesn't mean what you seem to think it means! Vaporware is a product with a lot of excitement .. that never ends up coming to market. It's usually announced .. and then delayed, and delayed ... and then just dissapears and never sees the light of day. The Surface on the other hand, has been announced, and that's about it. It's too early to tell whether the product will have any delays, but even then, Microsoft /WILL/ bring this product to market - it's not vaporware, it's coming, get used to it.
I expect in the run up to Windows 8 GA, we'll see more information coming out about the surface to try and re-capture the excitement generated around the announcement.

Microsoft has to do what's right for Microsoft. Some OEM partners have not excited the customer with affordable, innovative hardware for years. Instead, they load a great operating system down with bloated, subsidized crapware that makes the end user experience horrible.
Microsoft is creating exciting hardware with Signature Series OS installations that will enhance and build up the end user experience. They also have marketing dollars to help tell this story of new, innovative hardware with a good user experience.
This will only drive up sales for the Windows brand and OEMs will have to spend less marketing dollars to reap the benefits of this new, exciting product. OEMs should be saying Thank You, Microsoft, not Screw You.

@yoshi:
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. ;-)
There are many reasons MacOS has succeeded in gaining market share. One of them is quite simple - it's a self-contained desktop OS. Contrast that with Linux, which is, even with the easiest distros, a nightmare to use on the desktop.
We've been hearing for years that Linux is finally going to take hold on the desktop. It still has a lower market share than Windows Phone. The applications aren't there, the mindshare isn't there, the ...
The tablet vs desktop/laptop part is another conversation.

What product exactly have Acer got that makes Microsoft compete with them? Do they already have any kind of Windows Tablet?
They have been slow off the mark as they wanted to see the reaction to W8, and now interest is building they are worried they may have missed the boat. My experience of Acer, particularly their UK repairs outfit, Esplex is not good. In my view, they can go, they won't be a loss to the ecosystem in my eyes.

What nobody had mentioned here is that even with the iPad dominance in tablets, Microsoft not only has a successful desktop future and a questionable tablet future; but they have the data center. Even if people put off purchasing a new laptop or desktop computer for home and instead purchase a tablet(read iPad) the data center is still needed. Even Apple realizes this, but was not able to enter that market when they tried. MS and Apple both have strengths that they need to focus on.
Oh and MS...please chase Balmer out the door soon! He is the root of the current problems.

It all comes down to the Win8 experience on computers and tablets....
If word of the experience isn't too good - that will influence the reps at Best Buy etc etc to steer customers to other platforms.... And even though I think brick and mortar electronics stores are on the way out, for now - they still hold a lot of influence for people that like to try a product before buying it. (at Amazon)
While I have no intention of using Win8 on a computer, I am interested in trying a Win8 tablet.
I'm getting excited to read the first reviews when they first come out....

@yoshi:
I can't get on board with either of your conclusions.
"I do however believe this is the start of OEMs offering more than just Windows."
This has been done numerous times already. About a year or so ago, Dell tried (and eventually pulled the plug) on Linux desktops. Microsoft's market share on the desktop is not going to be impacted by this in any way, shape or form. Microsoft's threat to the desktop is Mac OSX, not vendors shipping Linux desktops.
"I can foresee more Android tablets and from the big OEMs, as well as an increase in Linux sales."
I agree with the fact that OEMs will be creating more tablets, and likely more Android tablets, but again - that doesn't have a lot to do with Microsoft's decision to release their own tablet but rather the success of tablets in general.

As if ACER is going to cut off their nose to spite their face!
As long as ACER can make money selling Windows 7/8 notebooks, they will. If they are offered the chance to make WIndows-RT tablets, and they believe they can make money at it, they will!
Consumers have rejected Linux and they are lukewarm on Android tablets. They have to contend with Amazon and Samsung in what Android tablet market there is and there is the Apple iPad leading the way.
Other than Microsoft Windows, there is no place else to go. And, if ACER decides to "go it alone" there will be another new Windows OEM come along to take up the slack!

What alternative? Linux is still not user friendly enough for the masses like Windows is - and you can get alternatives to mainstream apps for it but not the mainstream apps themselves (and running Windows-based apps on Linux is not for the average housewife).
Acer's hardware sucks - they make garbage for mass consumer consumption based on the disposable HW model. MS makes decent HW products - even the Zune is great (I own one BTW) and I wish it would have caught on then they would have kept it. That aside, MS is giving OEMs an ultimatum - do it right or ours will beat yours. Maybe OEMs should step their game up and design better HW and stop letting Apple and Samsung dominate the mobile space.

What did Microsoft EXPECT? They've completely shattered the whole model they've always used. I'm sure that many private discussions along these lines are taking place between Microsoft and other hardware vendors.
The funny thing is that, for all the good will they've thrown away, Surface just isn't worth it. No one has even seen the thing run. No price, no specs. It's one step from vaporware, but Microsoft has sure paid a price for it.

I have an Acer Iconia A500 tablet. Decent, but a little rough around the edges (could have smoother ICS mutlitasking, sound quality is just barely adequate, etc...). It looks as though Acer is going to upgrade this device to Jelly Bean. I think Acer has to focus on making the best devices (and software) and not worry too much about Microsoft hardware in this case. If they can take the price low enough for PCs with another OS (one would have to assume they mean Linux), there may be a group of people who could live with an excellent $300 PC with Linux although it wouldn't have the Sex Appeal of a tablet.

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